Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The smile that spread across Lonemoon’s face as he patted the wall of the sect’s storehouse was one of a satisfied profiteer. The storehouse was getting fuller and fuller by the day. Even the blow of Yi Qing’s breakthrough to the rank of Exalted Immortal seemed much more bearable now. Feeling generous, he waved his hand airily and announced, “I hereby approve your request for a supper allowance.”
When Lonemoon did not hear the expected whoop of joy from a certain someone, he frowned and muttered, “What? Still not satisfied with supper…” He abruptly stopped in mid-sentence and turned to look at the person beside him.
He discovered that Shen Ying, who had been eating just a moment ago, was now sprawled on the table, fast asleep.
Good heavens! This foodie could even fall asleep while having her meal? Her sleeping skills had definitely advanced!
Thinking it a small matter, Lonemoon transmitted a voice message to Yi Qing in the kitchen to arrange for someone to take Shen Ying back to her room.Then he continued to work on his holy land development project. Recently, the cultivation of their disciples had risen very quickly. Most of them had formed immortal bones and become immortals. Even he himself had risen to the level of Mystic Immortal, due to his frequent entries into the demonic Qi. During this period, Xun Shu had also sent more than half of the immortal weapons over. It was a busy period for him.
However, he was surprised to learn that Shen Ying had still not awakened after sleeping for several days. And this was a foodie who never failed to turn up punctually at the dining hall at mealtimes. Even when her meals were brought into her room, she showed no response at all.
“Is Master all right?” A frowning Yi Qing looked worriedly at Shen Ying’s bed room.
“What could possibly be wrong with her?” snorted Lonemoon rolling his eyes. After thinking for a while, he asked, “How long has she been like this?”
“Five days…”
“So long! Did she say anything to you before she slept?” Lazy Shen Ying might be, but dumb she was not; in fact she was even more quick-witted than the average person. She would definitely have given them hints had she discovered something amiss.
Yi Qing shook his head after thinking it over. “No!” There was nothing out of the ordinary in her behaviour that day.
“Then it should be fine.” Lonemoon let out a sigh of relief and said, “As you know, although she is lazy, she is actually as smart as a whip. She would not have kept quiet if something was wrong. Besides, didn’t she once sleep for two whole days?”
“But I feel that this time Sect Master has been sleeping much too long.” Yu Hong stepped forward and suggested hesitantly, “Shall we… try waking her up?”
Yi Qing and Lonemoon mulled over her suggestion. It was a sound idea … but…
“Who’s going to do it?”
Yi Qing: “…”
Lonemoon: “…”
Yu Hong: “…”
A while later…
“Ahem! Maybe she’s just too tired…” Lonemoon gave an awkward laugh. “She went without sleep for several days when we were at Yu Feng Immortal City. She’s making up for lost sleep… nothing unusual about it.”
I think…?
“But…” The trip to the immortal city was over half a year ago! Although Yu Hong had her doubts, she could think of no better explanation. Sect Master was so powerful, who could possibly set her up? Maybe she was… really to tired?
Yi Qing clenched his fists and gazed fixedly at the room. Then, he walked up to the door and pushed it open suddenly.
“Yi Qing!” exclaimed Lonemoon in shock, “Do you want to… die?”
Huh?
He scanned the room. Oddly, the person lying on the bed had not been aroused by the commotion. He could hear the faint sound of her breathing; it seemed she was sound asleep.
“Master, it’s mealtime!” Yi Qing walked up to Shen Ying’s bed and gave her a gentle shove.
There was no response from her.
“I cooked your favourite food… assorted meat dishes.”
“…”
“There’s fried crab, steamed crab, immortal noodles…”
“…”
“Toad fish, Ba Dai fish, spicy wild hen…”
“…”
He went on to enumerate a whole list of dishes, but still failed to elicit a response from her. An inexplicable feeling of dread overwhelmed him. His head buzzed and his hands trembled. “Master…?”
It was then that Lonemoon realized something was not right. His expression changed. He strode quickly into the room and instructed an obviously panicking Yi Qing, “Quickly, check her pulse.”
Yi Qing calmed down a little and proceeded to use his immortal Qi to check her pulse. Everything seemed normal. He repeated the procedure a few times, but could find nothing wrong with her.
“How is it? What’s wrong with this foodie?” asked Lonemoon.
“I… don’t know,” answered Yi Qing, shaking his head.
“How can it be? Let me take a look!” Lonemoon grabbed Shen Ying’s hand from him to take her pulse. The expression on his face grew increasingly grim. He too could not find anything wrong with her. He gripped the flute in his hand in exasperation. He thought for a while, then turned to Yu Hong. “Yu Hong, go to Shang Dong immortal abode quickly.” Perhaps their cultivation was not strong enough to diagnose the problem. “Tell Xun Shu to come over. Say it’s a matter of life and death… Forget it! I’ll go instead.”
He was about to leave when Yi Qing said, “I’ll go!” In a flash he was gone.
Fortunately, to facilitate the production of the immortal weapons, the Invincible Sect and Shang Dong Immortal Abode had already set up a transportation array between them. Within moments, Yi Qing was back with Xun Shu.
“Hey, why did you drag me here?” Xun Shu, who had been in the midst of weapon refinement, grumbled. “Don’t blame me if this immortal sword breaks…”
Midway through his sentence, Xun Shu noticed the person sleeping soundly on her bed. Aghast, he struggled free from Yi Qing’s grip and cowered behind the door. Through voice transmission, they could hear his trembling voice as he cursed them, “Hey, you bastards! Are you trying to get me killed!” I thought we were friends? Why did Yi Qing bring me to Shen Ying when they know she’s sleeping? Haven’t I suffered enough beatings from her?
“Don’t worry!” Lonemoon assured Xun Shu, who had obviously not gotten over his mental trauma. “Come and tell us what’s wrong with her?”
Xun Shu looked suspiciously at them, still afraid to step out from behind the door. Lonemoon had to repeatedly assure him and even yelled out a couple of times to convince him of Shen Ying’s unresponsiveness before he slowly emerged from behind the door.
Taking a few deep breaths, Xun Shu checked Shen Ying’s pulse briefly before quickly retracting his hand. Still maintaining his whispering tone, he said, “Her aura is calm, her pulse is stable. There’s no abnormal signs. She’s just sleeping. Why did you call me over?” To test my courage?
“Master has been asleep for five days.” Yi Qing explained.
“What? Can’t be!” exclaimed Xun Shu. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. Pressing his two fingers to Shen Ying’s forehead, he transmitted a stream of immortal Qi inside to explore her divine perception. He found that it was totally empty. He cried out in surprise, “Could this be due to… the Soul Detachment Spell?”
“No!” Before anyone could speak, Xun Shu immediately dismissed this notion. “Her soul shows no signs of having left her body, how can it…”
“What Soul Detachment Spell?” asked Yi Qing anxiously.
“The Soul Detachment Spell is a type of soul controlling technique!” explained Xun Shu, “Soul controlling techniques can extract a person’s soul but this Soul Detachment spell just causes the soul to leave the body. This is a weak spell, it causes its victim to fall into a deep sleep, but does no harm to his body. That’s why most immortals have never heard of it. I only got to know of it from the ancient memories that I inherited from my ancestors.”
“You mean that someone cast this spell on Shen Ying?” asked Lonemoon.
“Very likely,” replied Xun Shu, nodding, “The strange thing is that her soul has not left her, but a part of her divine perception is missing from her body. Someone must have cast a spell on her. Looks like you are in trouble.”
“…”
Everyone looked grim, especially Yi Qing, who gripped his fist tightly.
Shen Ying’s divine perception, who was standing beside them all along: “…”
Er… Didn’t anyone discover that she was only sleep walking?